Only 30 years ago, the vast majority of private individuals, small businesses, and even medium-sized businesses carried out word processing tasks on electronic typewriters and stored personal and business-related data on hand-written and typed papers and forms that were manually filed in indexed folders within filing cabinets. During the late 1970's and 1980's, mini-computer-based word-processing systems, and, subsequently, personal computers became widely available, and electronic data storage relatively quickly replaced hand-written and typed pages stored in filing cabinets. However, in many cases, electronic data was stored on floppy disks that were, in turn, indexed and physically stored in filing-cabinet-like enclosures, since the small capacity and lack of robustness of early mass-storage devices and computer systems limited their usefulness for storing data backups and archived data. Data backups and archived data need to be reliably stored for relatively long periods of time. Often, backed-up and archived data may never again be needed, but, in those cases in which backed-up or archived data needs to be retrieved for subsequent use, an ability to retrieve the backed-up or archived data may result in serious and, in certain cases, even fatal consequences for business organizations.
With the continued improvement of personal computers and business computing systems, and increased price performance of computers, data backups and data archives are currently most commonly stored in mass-storage devices accessible by networked computer systems. FIG. 1 illustrates options for data backup and data archiving in a small-business environment. In general, an employee or small-business owner carries out most data-related tasks on the employee's or business owner's personal computer 102. Personal computers are commonly purchased with multiple disk drives that allow for redundant data backup, including full disk mirroring, and redundant data archiving within a single computer system. However, small businesses generally employ networked systems of personal computers and one or more servers 104 with higher-capacity and more highly available and fault-tolerant data-storage subsystems. In such environments, the employee or business owner primarily using PC 102 can access, via a network, other PCs 106 and 108 or the centralized server 104 for storing backup data and for archiving data, in addition to any local backup and archiving within the employees or business owner's own PC 102. Similarly, home users may have multiple disk drives on their PCs, and often have networked, multiple-PC systems that allow for storing backup data and archiving data over two or more networked computers. Additionally, data can be backed up and archived, in the small system shown in FIG. 1, on writeable CDs or DVDs, magnetic tapes, or other types of physical storage media, and the CDs, DVDs, or tapes may be stored in remote locations. Again, however, such practices depend on regularly conducted backups and archiving, on managing remotely stored information, and other manual tasks that are often forgotten or put off.
Unfortunately, current trends and developments in personal and business computing are conspiring to make data backup and data archiving in small computer systems, such as the small computer system shown in FIG. 1, inefficient and dangerous. As applications and computer systems on which applications run continue to become larger and more capable, the amount of electronic data that is routinely generated and that that needs to be backed up and archived by personal and small-business users is increasing rapidly. Furthermore, as more activities and tasks become automated as a result of the increasing price performance in computer systems and the increasing availability of a wide variety of application programs, more types of electronic data are being generated by home and small-business computer users, much of which may need to be backed up and archived. New regulations and statutes require small business to maintain reliably backed-up data for relatively long periods of time. For example, certain new statues require electronic, reliable storage of medical records, and other new statutes require reliable, electronic storage of email and other securities-related information in companies dealing with securities transactions. These statutes and regulations contribute enormous added data-backup and data-archiving overhead. Data backup and data archiving require continuous diligence and technical understanding on the part of home users and small businesses. Home users and small businesses often lack the technical expertise, time, and vigilance required to effectively back up and archive data in ways that guarantee that backed-up and archived data is not lost or does not end up being unrecoverable for a variety of different reasons. Although progress has been made by computer vendors, operating-systems vendors, and other hardware, software, and service providers, efficient, user-friendly data backup and data archiving may require interfacing many different components with one another, and the many interfaces may be neither stable over time nor easy to set up and manage. Reliable data backup and data archiving require data to be stored in two or more geographically remote locations, to prevent catastrophic data loss at a single site. For example, even when data is backed up and archived in triply or quadruply redundant fashion within a small business, a fire, flood, or earthquake can easily result in all redundantly stored data being lost or unrecoverably damaged. Backing up and archiving data to geographically remote data-storage facilities is often beyond the technical and economic capabilities of home users and small businesses. Finally, even were a home user or small business able to create and manage a reliable and effective data backup and archiving system, it is exceedingly difficult for home users and small businesses to secure backed-up and archived data from inadvertent or malicious, unauthorized access. Such data is commonly accessed by hackers, business competitors, and fraudulent groups and organizations. For all of these reasons, home users, small businesses, and even medium-sized businesses and larger organizations have all recognized the need for user-friendly, reliable, and cost-efficient data backup and data storage services.